Gloria Osteria Milano — Restaurant in Milan

Gloria Osteria wasn't our first choice to dine out last night but was persuaded to give it a go and with a 4.8 score wouldn't be that much of a risk. On arrival first impressions were good and being a part of the Big Mamma Group we knew roughly what to expect. Great decor and great cocktails when we were seated at our table. Prompt service and a nearly full restaurant early into the evening session. However a restaurant is not judged on this criteria but on the food it serves. The food started off ok I went for the prosciutto which not bad but poorly presented but went really well with the table bread which was sourdough. Poorly presented in that it was a decent portion of prosciutto but just thrown on a side plate in a lump. My wife had a cherry tomatoe salad in a creamy cheese sauce which was tasty and went well with the sourdough bread. For the mains I went for the spaghetti pomodorro a no brainer I thought. Well we are in Milan we are in Italy what could go wrong. First of all the spaghetti was of a thicker variety of pasta and although what seemed fresh pasta wasn't cooked properly and not all cooked to the same degree. It was too saucey and the pasta was practically swiming in the sauce. Also a load of cherry tomatoes were also apart if the sauce which in my opinion should not be there. I have eaten spaghetti in Rome Florece Venice Bologna Sicily and not a cherry tomatoe to be seen but spaghetti lightly dressed in fresh tomatoe sauce. Even the parmigiano looked strange when grated at the table the experience was quite off putting. We also ordered the melanzano milanese which unlike the alforno I make and love at home was no more than a halved small aubergine poorly breadcrumbed they weren't panko and fried with the same tomatoe sauce as in the spaghetti on top and with a hard texture as though the aubergine was old and hadnt been cooked enough.You think the kitchen would know an aubergine cooks better in the oven sl forno. Poor and hardly eaten. Pasta sent back with profuse apologies from the waiter and replaced with another portion a lot less saucy and not a cherry in sight. Finished the meal off with the waiters recommendation and obvious choice of tiramasu. It was OK but nothing special light taste of coffee and mostly cream. In conclusion ambience and service good food poor. You would think that being in Milan being in Italy they would be able to knock out and to be honest mater a couple of classic Italian dishes unfortunately not. Wouldn't visit again maybe to have another look at the lampshades and wouldn't recommend. On return to London will keep an eye our for the Big Mamma chain and avoid touristy dining at its worse lots of thrills with very little substance. Enough to embarace any Nonna. Fernando Nieto trying to eat well in Milan for the Springsteen gig...

We went for dinner at Gloria Osteria, and were quite disappointed with the service of the restaurant.

We were a party of 4, with dinner reservations at 21.45, and they were kind enough to keep our table as were stuck in traffic. The restaurant itself is nice, definitely a more trendy celebratory type of place- lots of people. We were seated upstairs and our waiter was very rushed and a bit dismissive from the get go. We ordered cocktails and oysters to start. The cocktails were nice and we also asked for his thoughts on the Chardonnay- he told us there was only 2- one that wasn’t listed but he recommended it, we asked why and he said it was French but didn’t give us any other information- taste, quality, wine name. It felt more as if he wanted to upsell- we asked if one person could taste the Italian and then we could ascertain which we would go with - again a bit of an off putting response, he did so more unwillingly and we had to ask again to bring a small taste. We ended up ordering the Chardonnay and more cocktails.

We received our oysters - ostriche ostra regal. The diner closest to the plate remarked something was smelly but we didn’t think it was coming from the plate and only 2 of us ate 2 pieces- which were delicious but unfortunately, again, the third person to pick up commented on a strange smell. The smell from one of the oysters had to be the most intensely horrible smell I’ve ever smelled from a shellfish. It was an obviously bad oyster. We immediately called on the closest person working, who happened to be a host, we let her know we thought the oyster went bad and she smelled it- the look on her face was of disgust but then she told us, “I don’t eat oysters so I can’t tell if it’s bad.” Mmmm… a putrid smell is pretty universal, she brought over our waiter and he smelled it and also had an immediate look of revulsion and thankfully immediately took it away. The host asked us if we would like to order more, we declined.

The other foods we ordered were okay, the crocchette tonno vitello was the standout.

The service left much to be desired as we noticed our waiter giving everyone else around us lavish attention but was seemed very unbothered to pay attention to us.

At the end of the meal, the person who paid for our bill generously left a tip anyway because that is who she is everywhere she travels in the world- and we all noticed, he became very friendly and more approachable then.

I would say, Gloria Osteria is an okay restaurant, more for those that want the atmosphere of a trendy place than...

Came for a lunch with my mother. What can I say, very beautiful restaurant. The ambience is great. The maximalist interior was well put together and chic. I can see why this place is so hyped up.

The food, on the other hand, was mostly mediocre (but not bad per say).

I must note, that they have a really tasty bread. A tangy sourdough with a crispy crust and a soft but chewy crumb.

From the menu we started with the oysters which were really not the best. They felt dried out and were hard to get out of the shell. Besides, the oyser shells were badly opened and chips of the shell were in the oyster.

For the main course we took a primi each. My mother took the scarpinocc with truffle and funghi. It was ok, a lot of potato filling, not that much mushrooms and the truffle could have been more distinct. I took the seafood risotto which was good. The rice was perfectly al dente with a deep seafood flavor, though it seemed like they got a bit stingy with the actual seafood on top of the risotto. However, it definitely did not take away from the taste.

Lastly, we concluded our meal with some dessert which was probably the highlight of the meal. We ordered a tiramisu and the lemon meringue tart. The tiramisu was one of the best I have had in Milan. The cream was firm but light and the ladyfingers were perfectly moist. But the lemon tart, oh, the lemon tart! That was amazing. The lemon custard was rich and had a very concentrated citrus flavor which was perfectly balanced by the mountain of torched meringue on top of it. Would recommend.

The service was quite fast but the waiter was not the best. At the beginning he was a bit too attentive. He came to the table and asked if everything was good way too many times. Maybe it was because we came at an early time when the restaurant was still quite empty because at the end of our meal when the restaurant was much more full we could no longer get hold of him to order dessert and it took some 15min of calling him to actually get our dessert order.

Definitely a restaurant worth visiting for the vibes...